Underneath the Underneath
by Yurihentai641
Summary: What if the members of team seven could see underneath the underneath with one another. They aren't blinded by Naruto's sunny smile. Insulted by Sasuke's silence. Put off by Sakura's bluster. Accepting of Kakashi's lateness. Team as family. Strong team.
1. Underneath the Underneath (Naruto)

UNDERNEATH THE UNDERNEATH (NARUTO)

It wasn't something that they'd ever noticed before really. An embarrassment for the ninja hopefuls when they'd finally caught on. They tried to excuse it away. Giving examples as to why they didn't see it before.

He was loud, so loud that he could shatter glass. Bright enough where he rivaled the sun. Friendly enough where he would be best friends with a total stranger by the end of the day. He'd been this way for the seven years that they'd known him. Anyone would have argued that Naruto was happiness personified.

Then they passed their secret graduation exam and officially became members of Team Seven, aka Team Kakashi; and while spending so much time together there was no way that they wouldn't notice. Between being up before the crack of dawn training, working on missions, sharing meals together as a team for bonding, they were bound to notice.

They saw it in the way he walked down the streets of Konoha no matter what time of day it was. Dead center. Neither too far to the left or the right, but directly in the middle. His smile so wide that it had to hurt, so wide that his eyes were closed. He couldn't meet anyone's gaze that way and the smile was never directed anywhere but slightly up.

And if a passerby ever drifted too close, he took the habit of drifting slightly closer to Sasuke or Kakashi's side, pressed almost right on top of them.

That's when it clicked in their minds, Naruto was afraid of civilians which they thought was weird but accepted none the less. It wasn't till a while later that they realized this fear was also attached to the ninja of the village as well.

It had been during a joint mission with a genin team a few years older than theirs. Each genin of Team Seven was paired with a genin from Team P, the genin teams of that generation being named after letters.

Naruto had greeted his assigned team mate pleasantly enough with a loud but not his loudest shouts of hi and introduction. The mission was tasked by the Akimichi clan, they'd run low on several ingredients due to a long-standing low S ranked mission and they needed the assistance of the two teams to gather herbs, fungi, and roots.

Naruto and his partner were tasked with collecting the fungi, one of the fungi only grew at the top of Konohagakure Chakra trees. The tree was a descendant of a tree grown by the first Hokage that would disrupt the chakra systems of any ninja trying to climb it as a way to protect the fungi, that when fully mature would burst and spread not only the seeds of the fungi but the tree as well.

Naruto unaware of this attempted to tree climb to the top before his chakra just stopped responding and he was blasted away from the tree suddenly. Before he could attempt to regain his bearings, his partner had caught him mid fall.

This led to a panic attack, and when he couldn't calm Naruto down the other genin went to get their team. When the sensei of Team P who worked with interrogation and knew how to handle panic attacks approached him Naruto backed away so harshly that he bashed his head into a tree behind him.

He'd given himself a slight concussion. Sasuke and Sakura were both confused and angered by his reaction and decided that if he was afraid of personal contact with anyone, they'd prevent it from happening. If he didn't make the first move, they'd shake hands with the client first. They'd shove Naruto slightly out of the way to receive a respective pat on the shoulder from an older ninja.

Things seemed to be going well for the three preteens. Sasuke and Sakura thought that they were doing a great job of helping Naruto and Naruto while confused about their behavior was appreciative as well. And then the day came where Kakashi reached to give Naruto a hug.

His body tensed all over as if he was preparing for an attack. Kakashi with his sharpened eyes caught the action immediately, and instead reached down to ruffle Naruto's hair instead. His covered Sharingan twitched as his regular eye caught the slight catch in Naruto's breathing.

Sasuke who'd been listening in on the previous conversation and with ears sharper than what people knew caught the slight hitch in Naruto's breathing as well, while Sakura saw the widening of his eyes when Kakashi. The two met eyes and shared the same thought.

He's afraid of us too!

They went over whatever information that they could from memory and realized with a startling fact that Naruto wasn't just afraid of people. He was also afraid of contact in general. Every memory that Sakura had of hitting Naruto back at the academy, she saw in a new light, he'd always stared at her hands specifically to keep track of them. There was one time that she'd hugged him their second year and she thought he'd been flinching expecting her to hit him like normal and his face was so confused and uncomfortable then. He'd been squirming to get free and his eyes showed nothing but confusion and pain.

Sasuke had remembered their first year at the academy, they had open seating. He'd been the first kid there, just about every day and he remembered the amount of times Naruto changed his seat. Every time it was because his neighbor had touched him. Sometimes it was a purposeful excited shake of the shoulder. Sometimes a purposeful mean shove. Sometimes a questioning tap. Sometimes an accidental brush. Each time Naruto had changed seats the next day until the day, he'd ended up sitting next to Sasuke. Sasuke had never once touched Naruto in the academy. He'd always been mindful and aware of how much space he possessed and while not adverse to touch he didn't see the need for contact either and so it had never been a problem.

That day they'd made another unknown promise to themselves. Naruto was the light in their days, the sun in their hearts, and they couldn't just sit there and let him be afraid of them without trying to change it.

Sakura who remember always being physically violent with him decided that outside of spars she would always broadcast her movements towards him. Every wave would be slightly exaggerated where he could notice it miles away without feeling like she was mocking him. Every needed touch she would make some type of sound or give a hint. If it was for instruction she would ask if she could touch him first, or if it was a training session gone wrong and she wanted to prevent a nasty injury she'd yell out she was going to touch him so at least he knew it was about to happen.

Sasuke himself decided upon a different route. He'd never been very physical towards Naruto and decided to change it. After a harsh training session whenever he managed to be the first one standing, he would offer Naruto a hand up. There were some days where Naruto accepted it, some where he didn't but he always let it be an option. He also decided to help teach Naruto a new sparring style that Naruto was learning on his free time. He memorized how the style was supposed to look and its positions with the help of his Sharingan and helped correct him.

Kakashi had taken to offering each of his genin a high five at the start and end of their days together. Sasuke and Sakura had thought they were being discreet with their actions, but it seemed Kakashi had caught on when he gave them each a secret smile of praise and pride one day when Naruto had exuberantly if hesitantly accepted a shoulder hug from him. The two had also shared a small smile between themselves over Naruto's head as the walked to get dinner that night after their last mission when Naruto hardly twitched when he grabbed both of their hands in an effort to get them to walk faster.


	2. Underneath the Underneath (Sasuke)

**Underneath the Underneath (SASUKE)**

Naruto had always thought it strange how little Sasuke spoke. He'd be lucky to get a full sentence from him in one week. Lucky to get more than three words from him in a day. But it wasn't something he dwelled on. After all Sasuke probably just thought that Naruto wasn't worth speaking to right? After all, Sasuke was so much better at everything than Naruto could ever hope to be. So, Naruto didn't let it get to him. He kept the happy smile off his face whenever Sasuke would respond to a question or choke back a laugh at one of his jokes. If he showed how much he appreciated Sasuke's participation in their usually one-sided conversations what if Sasuke decided he didn't even deserve that.

Sakura had just thought that Sasuke didn't want to talk to her. Didn't want to give her that positive reinforcement. Because she was annoying. After all what boy would want to give a girl who has or well at least had such an aggressive crush on him even more reason to bother him. She wasn't blind. She saw the way Sasuke cringed just about every time she spoke.

Kakashi himself didn't really think anything wrong about it either. He'd dealt with more Uchiha than the three combined. And while most had no problem speaking, those from the main house were very silent. It held true for Itachi, Fugaku, even their cousin Shisui. So Kakashi just chalked it up to genetics. After all, each of his genin had taken something from their families. Naruto had his mother's obsession with ramen and hyper nature, along with his father's optimism. Sakura got her fathers pink hair and mother's green eyes. Even he had gotten his fathers hair color. As far as he was concerned there was no problem with Sasukes' silence.

Until all three of them realized just how much of a problem it was. Sasuke wasn't quiet because he thought they were unworthy. Or because he thought they were annoying. And genetics was most definitely not the cause.

They'd gone to Sasuke's house that night, as a mission set up by the Hokage. Some of the older buildings were scheduled to be knocked down because they weren't up to code and the Hokage decided that Sasuke and his team could handle it since it was Sasuke's family, on Sasuke's land, and so he could collect whatever he wanted from the homes.

The first thing they each silently noticed was just how quiet it was. There were no people living here due to the massacre. Each clan had seals around the borders of their clan lands that kept noise from the village out and noise inside the lands in. The silence was deafening, echoing hollowly in their ears.

They could each finally understand why Sasuke cringed whenever one of them spoke loudly or close to his ear. It was with a sickening realization that they came to understand why Sasuke didn't talk. It was because he didn't have anyone to talk to.

For years, Naruto thought to himself. Sasuke's lived here his whole life, and he'd been living here for the better part of 7 years by himself, since he was six, all alone. Naruto was filled with shame as he came across this fact. He knew what it was like going home to an empty silent house, with no one to talk to or listen to you. In some ways Sasuke had it worse, he had a ghost town to go back to every day.

Sakura frowned as she finally realized just how shallow she really was when it came to Sasuke. She'd thought that he was so cool having no one to listen to, no one to tell him what to do, no adults controlling his life when the truth was just that back then, he really had no one. Not one single family member, not one friend, not one adult that was close, wanted to get close. She'd let him down, as the girl who had a crush on him, but maybe, maybe she could make it up to him as the girl that was his second teammate. As the girl who trained besides him every day. As the girl who would have his back no matter what.

Both Naruto and Sakura made it their mission to encourage Sasuke to talk more. They realized that they didn't know much about Sasuke that he didn't let show and they wanted to change that. They wanted to show him that they wanted to hear about his day, about his feelings, about things that he wanted or needed.

Naruto decided that as a fellow orphan, he should finally connect with Sasuke on this similarity. Both still received an orphan check and would until they were 15. Previously they would go separately on days not mentioned to one another, but Naruto suggested that he and Sasuke go together. On the way there he would start a conversation. Sometimes about something as trivial as the weather, other times what he would need to use the money for that week. He shared low budget recipes or any knowledge he had on sales for either groceries or house upkeeping. Sasuke would rarely respond though. In fact, the nonverbal grunts and sighs that Naruto was so used to receiving were barely given during these conversations. Naruto would have sworn up and down that Sasuke wasn't paying attention if one day for lunch Sasuke didn't bring and make for them one of the low budget meals Naruto had mentioned before.

Sakura took a different approach. Most of her conversations with Sasuke before always included her talking about herself. About her day, her life, how much she had liked him and so now she wanted to flip that. She wanted to know about his day, his life, things he liked, hated, all of it. She no longer gave shallow compliments either, well she hadn't before but now she cut it out completely. She'd praise him for what he did well, and if she saw something wrong, she would tell him why and give suggestions on how it could be fixed. She told him not to shy away from telling her how to improve herself either and for a time she'd thought it was helping. He spoke a bit more, but they were just words. Telling her up while indicating a hand or knee that wasn't raised properly, left, right east. It wasn't really talking though.

Both she and Naruto shared a look one day after practice as they acknowledged the fact that, what they were doing, it wasn't working. Sasuke still didn't speak. The two fell into a slight funk after that, almost as if a rain cloud hung over their heads but they tried to keep a bright face whenever Sasuke was around.

And then finally that mission that was a gift from above appeared.

They were tasked with a low C rank mission. Escorting a deaf merchant and his equally deaf young son home to the Land of Valleys. It was a three day journey at a decent merchants pace, five when considering all the cargo they had to take along, and so it'd be at least a ten day trip. They'd seen some amazing things on their way there.

At night they'd camped at a waterfall that glowed with moonlit algae, turning the whole area a beautiful purple and blue. They passed through the area of a small travelling circus that at the request of the client they'd stopped to enjoy. The most amazing thing of all though was that Sasuke spoke.

Not verbally no. But he'd spoken more than probably the whole of the Leaf village had seen combined. He spoke in F.C.S.L. otherwise known as Fire Country Sign Language.

All leaf village children who went to the ninja academy were taught their countries Sign Language. The first two and a half years were especially heavy in the subject. Some of their hand signs for jutsu were borrowed from the language and most ninja were taught in case they needed to speak to a non-speaking client.

Sasuke had connected with the young boy immediately as it became obvious to the three other ninjas that he'd kept up his knowledge of sign language. Naruto and Sakura were a bit rusty but picked up more the more they signed. Kakashi obviously knew but with one hand busy holding his book he left the conversation to the three youngest.

Either way Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi realized something important today. They could talk to Sasuke, and Sasuke could talk to them in a way that he was comfortable.

When they'd gotten back from the mission Kakashi had set aside a week and a half specifically for touching up on their sign language as well as teaching them Morse could both by sound and by light. He'd spun some story about how the mission reminded him how there would be times when they couldn't speak verbally, and this would help but he as well as Naruto and Sakura knew it was just so Sasuke had two more options to communicate with.

Things returned to better than normal after this. Naruto told jokes in sign language to Sasuke and instead of only laughing Sasuke told a joke back. Naruto collapsed into a fit of giggles at both the joke and in glee from the response. Sakura who had just been idly signing to Sasuke about a tv show she'd watched with the previous night, was happy to learn that Sasuke also watched the show and although they both liked two different characters the best, they'd bonded over it.

Even better was that the members of team seven had decided to come up with their own secret signs for when they didn't want others to know what they were saying.

And when Sasuke made a secret joke at the expense of the Hokage in their own signs Kakashi could only chuckle alongside Naruto and Sakura.


	3. Underneath the Underneath (Sakura)

**Underneath the Underneath (SAKURA)**

They thought it was weird just how mix matched she was. Not in a bad way but in a confusing way. She was so smart; she was the top kunoichi of their class, but she was lacking in so many things. She was so strong in body, but so weak in mind. She felt so much and then so little. So much about her just never seemed to add up. It was like she knew how to speak but not form proper sentences, metaphorically. Or she knew how to form the sentence but just didn't.

Neither of them had seen much of her as she'd grown up in the more civilian part of town, but from what they knew of her early pre-academy life she'd been teased for having a large forehead which was honestly stupid to them both. Most young children had large heads in general. They'd learned that during their month learning about reproduction and babies in the second to last year in the academy.

What both adolescent males could see though was that Sakura had much to be proud of, that she seemed to show pride in, but her eyes said otherwise. They didn't really understand much about it but the came to understand a little about it when they'd run into her parents' one day in the market.

They were traders and had a decently successful business. They had a good number of clients in other villages and towns throughout the land of fire the be proud of, and while living modestly it showed they made well beyond that. The way the three Haruno's interacted was stiff, but polite, almost professional even.

It was hard for Naruto to follow most of it but even he caught on to the subtle slights her parents shot about her choice to become a ninja instead of following them in the family business. From what he could tell they'd built themselves up from the ground and had been hoping to pass the business on to their son. It wasn't bad luck that gave them a daughter. It was bad luck when medics had to remove Mrs. Haruno's reproductive organs after birth complications with her daughter. It was even more bad luck when Sakura never showed an interest in their business and wanted to become a ninja instead.

Which was weird because in their next sentence when another civilian suddenly came up to them they talked about the pride they had in their daughter for being a ninja, and that she was bringing so much to their family name but the words sounded so hollow that even the civilian could pick up on it.

Everything about them was contradictory and it seemed that Sakura unsure of what was and wasn't picked up this trait as well. She presented herself as weak when she was strong. As unknowing when she was nothing short of all knowing. So, they decided to change that.

Naruto who used to be ashamed in asking for help in theory now went to her without hesitation. He had a teammate who was a walking encyclopedia and he was going to show his appreciation for it. She was filled with knowledge she was willing to share, and he would take her up on this knowledge. He took it a step further as well. They were all pleasantly surprised at just how witty and strategic he could be. He started to feed into Sakura's witty comments and she fed into his strategic mind.

Sasuke realized that she had the makings of a heavy hitter. He could see her as a taijutsu master in the future and he realized that he shouldn't be pulling any punches on her because he thought she was less skilled. She was a fast learner and after two weeks of him pulling no punches she's thrown him so far that Kakashi had to call the match because he'd been sure several bones were broken.

Sakura had been so shocked at what she'd done she'd burst into tears but after their reactions she gave a small genuine if not unsure smile. Naruto had shouted out how kick ass that was while Sasuke had graced her with still somewhat rare smile with an equally as rare statement of "Well done".

And then came a joint training day. The rookie nine Jonin had decided to have two days scheduled every month where they would get their genin together to train as a group. The first day of the month specifically for chakra control, chakra theory, and ninjutsu. The last day of the month was specifically given to training in their specific groups designated, taijutsu group, ninjutsu group, and all-rounder group. For Team 10 Choji was their taijutsu fighter, Shikamaru the ninjutsu fighter because he didn't use taijutsu and Ino by default the all-rounder. For Team 8 Hinata was the taijutsu fighter, Shino the ninjutsu fighter, and Kiba the all-rounder. For their team Sakura was the taijutsu fighter, Sasuke the ninjutsu fighter and Naruto was the all-rounder.

The matches were 1v1v1. An all-out brawl for each fighter. When Sakura stepped up for her first fight the other genin teams were shocked as in the academy Sakura had never stood out in taijutsu. Team seven caught the look Kurenai shot to Kakashi and frowned. She didn't think Sakura would stand a chance and eyes seemed to glare at Kakashi for letting her step up. Sakura would show them. It was made worse where they heard Kiba laugh about how Sakura was going to embarrass herself, and Ino make fun about how she was going to ruin any chance she had with Sasuke.

Sakura powered through it thought and with a look Asuma who was judging this match called for a match start. The match was set in Sakura favor from the go. Choji who was bribed to try his best with all you can eat barbeque immediately rushed Sakura thinking she would be the easiest to get rid of. In his human boulder form his intent was clear. Sakura's intent was clear as well when she channeled her chakra to her feet, cementing one to the ground before performing a spinning kick and redirecting boulder Choji towards a nervously standing Hinata instead. Shocked at the turn of events Hinata still had the time to activate her Byakugan and aim four well placed Jūken strikes at the most critical parts for Choji's expansion jutsu effectively taking him out of the game.

Hinata who was a defensive fighter didn't expect the burst of speed that Sakura used as she rushed towards her. Sakura's chakra had been docile and then suddenly in less than the blink of an eye a torrent as it rushed through her legs. Responding with a Jūken strike Sakura ducked and brought an almost as fast fist under Hinata's extended arm towards her chin. What followed was a series of thrown and evaded punches and Jūken strikes between the two before Sakura took a feint step back, Hinata taking the bait rushed forwards and Sakura then performed a perfectly executed one legged front flip kick smashing Hinata into the ground. The match was quickly called afterwards and the only sound in the training grounds was Naruto's cheers and whistles.

Then to add even more noise Kiba and Ino exploded. Kiba was both shocked at Hinata's loss and Sakura's newfound power, as well as the way that Sakura won. It was brutal and he could smell the blood from Hinata's broken nose. He wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't missing a tooth. There was even a small crater where her face met the ground. Ino equal parts was shocked at how far Sakura had advanced. How far above her Sakura now seemed. And so, she called her every name in the book. Threw out ever insult she could think of. Told her how no matter how well she progressed she was still weak. That she would still put her team in danger out in the field because she was just a scared little civilian girl playing ninja and was never going to be worthy of Sasuke.

Sakura had let out a broken sob before Ino finished the phrase only letting it get to the part about her being unworthy before she'd rushed from the training grounds. At that one sob the rest of Team 7 fully realized the scope of Sakura's feelings. She wasn't contradicting because of poor parenting though that was a factor. The problem was that she felt unworthy. Her actions didn't match up because somewhere deep down she thought she didn't belong. That she wasn't good enough. And to them nothing had ever felt more wrong that that one thought.

The silence that Sakura's sob had brought didn't last long as Naruto exploded on Ino, telling her she wished she was as half as good as Sakura was because as it stood, she couldn't land a pinky on her. How Ino should worry about herself because Sakura was more of a ninja that Ino could ever hope to be. How she should be ashamed of herself. He looked like he wanted to keep going until Kakashi who didn't want to because he knew how he would react made enough noise to alert him of his approach before placing his hand over Naruto's mouth gently.

With an unspoken agreement the training session was called to an end as Kakashi carried Naruto out of the clearing with Sasuke at his side. On their way they heard Asuma tell Ino that she needed to think about the things she'd said and even Shikamaru was heard muttering to her how wrong what she did was.

When they found her Sakura was sitting on the railings of the bridge to their training grounds staring silently into the water. Her eyes were puffy but dry and Naruto who had been put back down walked up to her and cautiously took a seat at her side, Sasuke at her other side, and Kakashi sat down on the flooring the bridge behind them.

Naruto started off telling her how Ino was wrong. That if there was anyone more worthy to be a ninja to be his friend that he'd never met anyone who wasn't sitting beside him. Then he broached a topic they'd all been skating around. That her parents weren't healthy for her. That she was legally considered an adult and that she was his family and she should move into his apartment with him. That she was the older sister he'd always wanted and she could have the bed and he the couch and he'd cook every other day and they would alternate chores with her and that no matter what he wanted her, needed her, and appreciated her. Sasuke scoffed and Naruto thought he was going to make an untimely joke but instead he said they should move into his house so he could keep an eye on them because his younger siblings always got into trouble. That he had much more space in his house and they all could have a room. That the chores would be split between the three of them. That none of them would be alone. That he was never more serious in his life.

That afternoon the four had went to the Hokage's office to officially add Sakura Haruno as the start of a minor clan in the Uchiha ledger, stating that she was his adopted sister but kept her family name. Naruto was added as an extended family member, but legally couldn't be added as an adopted brother because he was the last male member of the Uzumaki clan. Naruto was given all his mother belongings, and that night the two were moved into Sasuke's house sharing bedrooms next to his.

Sentimentally, after placing their nameplates on their respective doors Sasuke looked at the two and whispered out a soft "Okaerinasai" to which both Naruto and Sakura responded respectively with tears "Tadaima".

In that moment nothing mattered because there was no other place that they would ever belong greater than right there with their siblings.


	4. Underneath the Underneath (Kakashi)

**Underneath the Underneath (KAKASHI)**

The three genin of Team 7 all realized how odd their sensei was the moment they'd first met him. He wore a weird mask over more than half his face, and at his obviously young age he had more silver hair than the Sandiame. Even with the mask and hair being explained he was still odd.

He was late to everything. Birthday parties, meetings with fellow Jonin, meals, training; no matter the occasion he was late. But he was also always on time. He was always three hours late. No more no less. With the same excuse every time too. He'd gotten lost on the road of life, followed up with a statement about running into a black cat.

He smiled with his eyes but whenever he looked at them, they were filled with one of two emotions; fear or sadness. Sometimes both. Even if he was exuding pride one of the two other emotions was vying to be the main one.

When he gave the odd hug he always held on as if he never wanted to let them go. As if he was afraid to. As if he knew he would have to because his shoulders would always sag before he did.

What may you ask are two almost thirteen and one just turned twelve-year-old supposed to do you may ask when they have three free hours a day seven days a week? Investigate of course. Not right away, however. They needed to learn how to stalk people without getting caught.

Naruto was great at evading detection, like a switch flipped in his brain, however he wasn't too great at the opposite as jonin would always catch him five minutes in. They practiced for weeks on jonin and then the anbu before they felt they were good enough to track down their sensei. When they did, they were confused.

He was sitting by the memorial stone. The one he'd shown them during their secret mission. He wasn't talking either. Just sitting there with a small sad smile to his eye. That answered the question of where is Kakashi sensei but now the question was why he was there.

The asked around. They read around. The only information they were sure of was that Kakashi was a ninja since he was younger than them. He'd fought through the war. His genin teammates had both died but not together. His jonin sensei had also died years later. His father had been dead even longer and he'd been alone since.

And then they'd found the journal. It had come from one of the buildings that had to be demolished a while ago and they'd finally gotten to the box it was in. They weren't even going to open it but then a picture fell out. A picture of a young man with blond hair who they realized was the fourth Hokage, a young boy with a smile as wide as Naruto's wit goggles and Uchiha hair, and a young brown-haired girl that stood as firmly as Sakura did. And there under the Fourth's hand stood a young boy with cold eyes and silver hair. It could only be Kakashi Sensei.

They debated reading the journal because this was obviously very personal to a dead relative, but they viewed Kakashi Sensei as family as well and they would have to be voyeurs to a dead family member to understand a still living one.

The journal talked about the boy, Obito's feelings for his team, the read through his romantic feelings for Rin and instead read about Kakashi. They learned about the tragic end to their sensei's father. How he became a stickler for the rules. They read until the journal abruptly ended. They were at a dead end, but they had a clue of where to continue. There was another name in the book. For a Might Guy. Apparently, he and Kakashi were childhood friends and hopefully he was still alive.

It was hard tracking him down, however. Most ninja cringed and edged away from the conversation the minute his name was spoken. It wasn't until Hinata who had been in the market overheard the conversation and mentioned that the man was the sensei to her older cousin. Her cousin had a major stick up his ass but had no issue telling them where they could find his sensei.

The next day found them waiting at the entrance to the village for a tall black-haired man in a green jumpsuit. They were mildly surprised and disturbed that he seemed to have procreated as there was a young carbon copy at his side. They quickly told him why they were there and begged for information. Guy tried to dissuade them, told them that he just couldn't tell them, but he was so moved by their youthful bond and love for his dear friend and rival that he spilled it all.

They understood why Kakashi sensei looked at them like he didn't want to let them go now. It was because in a sense he'd been on this team before. Almost literally as it'd been the same number. He'd been on the team before and he'd lost them all. In a way he felt like they all left him behind. He held them at arm's length because he was preparing himself to lose them all over again. He hugged them and pushed them away because he didn't want to, but he felt he had to. That just wouldn't do they all thought fiercely.

He had them. They were here and alive and well and thriving and they just needed a way to show him that they wouldn't be leaving him behind anytime soon. So, what did they do? They went back to planning. It took time to figure it out. It wasn't until they came across something in one of the Uzumaki scrolls that they decided what to do.

It was an age-old tradition. The same way your DNA didn't die in your hair the same was said about your chakra. It would always remain neutral in whatever strand of hair you shed no matter your state of life. You could forge jewelry of weaponry with the chakra from your loved ones with a seal and you would feel them right there with you as if they were still there. Not like a ghost either but more just a since of them. To make it even luckier Obito's journal had a lock of hair from every member of Team 7 Minato.

They worked in secret. At night after missions and training they went out to the cliffs and dug into the rock until the came across the iron ore they would need for steel. They pummeled the rock face into the early hours Sakura's brute strength making the task move faster. They pummeled for days, a whole week before they moved onto the next step.

They had to melt the minerals down slowly at a consistent temperature. Sasuke taught Naruto and Sakura an Uchiha fire jutsu that allowed them to release steady streams of condensed fire if they breathed through their nose. It took time to get it down and Sasuke's stream was the most consistent.

Using a stasis seal that he learned from his mothers scrolls Naruto kept the ore at its current temperatures until they were able to move on to the next step. When the ore was at their highest melting point, he had to extract the chakra from the hair and pass it into the melted ore. They'd already made their presses for the shapes the jewelry and weapons would be in. Something sentimental for each of them.

Because the seal was so temperamental Sasuke and Sakura were tasked with keeping the ore at the highest points while Naruto and his clones extracted and implanted the chakra. In the end they had seven different slabs of molten iron ore, each imbued with its own chakra.

Now for the easy part pouring and shaping the steel into its molds. It took another hour and sure they'd only have about an hour of sleep but tomorrow would be a special day.

That morning Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were each sitting down in front of the memorial stone waiting for their sensei. It wasn't hard to notice his arrival as there was a slight surprised stumble a few feet away. All was silent and they sat there quietly allowing him his time with his lost team. After his three hours Kakashi and his genin stood and made their way to their training grounds. There under Kakashi's usual spot was a package with his name on it in Sakura's neat handwriting. Picking it up he paused at what he felt.

Looking at the three he saw them talking amongst themselves while shooting him shy nervous glances. Opening the package carefully he took out six small dog tags. Each tag had a name on it, and a feeling associated with that name. With shock he was reminded of the feeling when he felt chakra flare subtly from Sasuke that matched the tag with his name on it. It was his team's chakra. Their essence. A piece of their life force.

At the bottom of the package there was a letter from his genin. The letter spoke of their love for him. Their sorrow of the Team 7 legacy. Their faith in him. Their trust. Their hope. That they weren't going anywhere. That he wasn't going anywhere. That they would always be there no matter what. And for the first time in a long time Kakashi believed those words. Turning towards them he paused at the similar feelings he got from them.

On each of Sakura's hands were three separate rings. From here he could feel the chakras from himself, Naruto, Sasuke, Rin, Obito, and Minato. Around Naruto's neck were six thin necklaces with the same feeling. And Sasuke had six earing's in his left ear.

He said nothing but with a warm smile he walked up to the three and pulled them into a firm hug. He breathed them in ruffled their hair and then let them go. Except this time, it didn't feel as if he were saying goodbye and more like simply the end of a warm hug. Afterwards he started training.

Nothing was ever said on the event but that didn't mean that things didn't change. Kakashi no longer went to the memorial stone every morning. There were days that he went but he was never late to team training, or meetings again. Some days he didn't go at all because the memorial stone was no longer the only place, he felt close to his loved ones. He'd never felt closer to them than in his own skin before now.


End file.
